Anesthetic



- have designated The adminlstration lS OftQIl inadvisable, or re Patented May JAMES HENRY corron, or TORONT DE moves & COMPANY, or

DELAWARE.

No Drawing.

O, ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSIGNOR TO E. I; DU PONT WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF ANJESTHETIC.

Application filed September 25, 1918. Serial No. 255,636.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known th Toronto, in the P1 have invented a at I, J AMns H. Cor'roN, of OVlllCG of Ontario, Canada,

certain new and useful Improvement in Anaesthetics, and do hereby declare that the following'is a full, clear,

and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to anaesthetics and pertains especially to such compositions as contain, as

as is well known, garded by the pat an essential constituent, What I ananaesthetic gas.

of ether-anaesthetics,

ient with aversion, because of the physiological efl'ects produced theresuch as irritation o branes, and after-sickness or nausea.

One ob ect of my invention is to provide an inhalation an one comprising an ether aesthetic, and particularly preferably ethyl ether), which will not cause the-above mentioned undesirable physiological reactions,

and which has a much greater anaesthetic power than ordinary ether, so that the amount administered for a given degree of anaesthesia may be much less than required When using ordinary Other objects of my ether.

invention Will be apparent. from the following description.

I have discover as the gaseous ole carbon dioxide anaesthetic properties,

ed that certain gases, such fine, ethylene (C H and CO possess remarkable when associated with a highly volatile narcotic such as an alkyl ether, and that the administration of a gaseous mixture con ether and a small carbon dioxide, 0 irritation of the taining substantially pure proportion of ethylene or r both, is not attended by mucous membrane and does not cause after-sickness. Furthermore the ease of induction much and the prompt.

of the new anaesthetic is greaterthan that of ordinary ether;

recovery from its effects,

with no disagreeable after features, is very noticeable.

I have also di thetic gases (ethylene, in con unction with ether are able to duce analgesia (loss'of eral vaso-motor spasm) time producing complete anaesthesia. other words, the patient sensible to pain,

scovered that these anaescarbon dioxide, etc.) prosensation and periphwithout at the same In may be rendered in and yet retain consciousf the mucous mem-,

tains from about .15

equal ness; he can carry on a conversation intelligently, and evenwalk about, although rather unsteadily. If the amount administered is reduced if it is pushed, the condition passes over into ordinary surgical anaesthesia, with loss of consciousness. but with a markedly lessened interval of excitement. gesic condition seems to be very similar to the primary anaesthesia obtainable with ordinary ether, with the difference that while primary anaesthesia is very brief, the analgesia producible by the new anaesthetic can be extended several hours if need be.

In order to produce the new anaesthetic I add to a good grade of ethyl ether a definite proportion of an anaesthetic gas or gases such as ethylene and carbon dioxide. I have found that good results are obtained by the addition of approximately the amount of ethylene and carbon dioxide which will be retained by ether at normal temperatures and at atmospheric pressure, i. e., about two volumes of these gases to one volume of liquid ether. I have found that it is possible to add more ethylene and carbon dioxide to the ether by cooling the ether while the gases are being added and subsequently keeping the ether in a closed container to prevent the escape of the anaesthetic gases. For most purposes the bestresults are obtained by the addition of an amount of the anaesthetic gases ranging from an equal volume to five or six times the volume of the liquid ether, so that the resulting ether con to 1% by Weight of absorbed gases.

As an example of an efficient anaesthesia ether I are obtained With pure ether to which there has been added an amount of pure ethylene to twice the volume of the ether. Excellent results have also been obtained with ether to which 3.5 volumes. of ethylene and 0.5 volume of carbon dioxide have been added.

Although in using ether to which an excess of anaesthetic gas has been added consensation begins to return; while This analmay mention that excellent results siderable of these gases will escape, I have various substances such as alcohols, ketones, or aldehydes (which are usually present in the commercial product) in such proportions as to cause undesirable physiological reactions, the ether is carefully purified to remove these substances before saturating the ether with ethylene or carbon dioxide. Of

course any substances ordinarily present in i the ether which is not harmful may be perthetic gas or gases,

by met';

not which wi mitted to form part of the final product which is to be used as an anaesthetic. The resulting anaesthetic is a mixture comprising ether and an anaesthetic gas and substantially free. from substances capable of producing undesirable physiological effects.

The amount of ethylene or carbon dioxide in the ether being-under control, it is possible to provide ether-mixtures which contain definiteqand known amounts of anaesso that the differing requirements of individual cases may be readth's control of the anaesthetic gas content is also advantageous in that it enables medic-al ractitioners to obtain a prodhave a uniformly high anaesthetic power.

other narcotics,

In-some cases it be found desirable,

.to mix the anaesthetic gas with the ether in 'vapor, form instead of absorbing the gas in the liquid ether; both methods are equally within the scope ,of my invention. Also in place of ethyl ether some other highly volatile narcotic or mixture of narcotics may be used, as for example amixture'contfimining ethyl alcohol, dimethyl ether, methylethyl ether or methyl-propyl ether; these however, do not appear to present any advantages over the ethyl ether. Anesthesia and analgesia seem. to be best the joint action of the as. r b Although I have described my invention in considerable detail, and mentioned the use of an anaesthetic gas amounting to 1 to 6 times the volume of liquid ether with which it is to be associated, 111 will be understood that various changes may be made Without departing from the scope of my invention, and that the proportion or anaesthetic gas may be varied to suit different conditions.

I claim: 7

1. A new composition of matter comprising ethyl ether charged with ethylene-and being substantially free from substances having a tendency to produce undesirable physiologicaliefiects.

2. A11 anaesthetic comprising one volume of ethyl ether having from 1 to 3 volumes of ethylene gas absorbed therein.

3. An anaesthetic comprising one volume of ethyl ether. about fl 'volume ing free from stances capable physiological efiects.

4. An anaesthetic comprising one of ethyl ether containing from 1 volumes of ethylene carbon dioxide and-being free from aldehydes and other substances capable of producin undesirable physiological effects.

5. En anaesthetic comprising one volume of ii uid ethyl ether charged with carbon dioxide and with about 2 volumes of ethylene.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand.

. JAMES HENRY COTTON. Witnesses: P. E. STRICKLAND, F. H. MCCORMICK. I

containing ethylene and of carbon dioxide, and bealdehydes and other subvolume to 3.5

and about O.5-volume of of producing undesirable 

